GOD FORMULA

Date: 1372 A.D.

Location: The Ent Plains, Planet Teleflat, Rusus-Afel Star System

"Where is your God now?" Dagon's voice boomed across the sprawling landscape, rebounding from the treeless hills that peeked over the horizon. "Didn't you claim, Griffin, that technology is your God?"

A drag trail on the ground extended from Dagon to a quarter-mile away, where Griffin lay spread-eagled on the moist soil. He was dying from battle injuries.

Dagon's last slash against Griffin had been so powerful that the impact had dented his unbreakable armor. The man was flung away, landing on his back, and skidding into the distance.

If not for the AI-run advanced device he wore, Griffin would already be a bloody stain on the ground by now. AEGIS.

Aegis was a god-class, highly sentient, super AI. It could do anything and everything as long as the user was smart enough to feed the right formula and ingredients. Be it generating matter or destroying it, Aegis was all-capable. Griffin called his invention THE MIND OF GOD.

Presently, Aegis was in battle mode. A form-fitting armor of sunlight-gold covered Griffin from head to toe. It was made of pure adamantine, a self-replicating metal not found in the mines of any planet in the star system.

The recesses of the gold armor were etched with equation lines glowing electric green. It was said adamantine could withstand the impact of a falling meteor. The metal was unbreakable, and it nullified most physical attacks.

All Griffin did was give Aegis the remote location of the mines, and lo-and-behold, the armor was ready. It was like divine magic.

"Are you still alive?" Dagon made a gargantuan leap and scaled the distance between them in a couple of seconds. He landed with a crash a dozen yards from Griffin, and the ground shattered and rippled. Gravel and sand fired at Griffin like shrapnel.

The villain rose from his crouch and approached his target. On his part, he wore Gehennian armor. Gehenna was the first planet in the Rusus-Afel Star System, known for its naturally powerful warriors.

"I can feel it," Dagon said, tilting his head back. "Your mana is low, and your heart is about to burst. Give up resistance and hand me over the key!"

He was right about Griffin's heart about to collapse. It was palpitating like a trapped animal. Aegis was convenient, but also challenging to withstand. Operating multiple god formula equations on the AI took a biting toll on the user's body.

Griffin rushed to his feet and looked at the top right corner of his HUD.

[Level 200: Human]

[MP: 3511/99999]

[HP: 10609/99999]

The augmented reality interface provided a realistic representation of Griffin's health and power. A normal human would have 1000 HP and MP, but Griffin had come up with formulas that defied physics and the rules of nature. Aegis had transformed his ideas into reality.

However, Dagon had burst his bubble. The Gehennian warrior humbled all the superhuman capabilities the advanced AI bestowed upon him. At the moment, things looked bad for Griffin.

Being supersmart, he had a plan. However, for it to actually work, he needed to distract Dagon and bide time. There were three powerful equations that Griffin hadn't introduced to Aegis yet. They would make him all-powerful.

[Loading Equations: 1/3…..26%]

"Don't just stand there, dying, Griffin! Give me the key to Aegis! Surrender God Formula to me!"

The scientist shrugged nonchalantly. "The key? There is no key, Dagon! Aegis is just my garage project. Go back to your wretched boiling planet and play with salamanders or something!"

Dagon buried his sword in the ground and narrowed his reptilian eyes. Everything about the Gehennian warrior was reptilian, from his skin tone and voice to his regeneration abilities and superhuman strength and agility. He was seven feet tall and clad in black dragon-scale armor.

'He's looking down on me,' Griffin surmised. 'What a proud prick! But as long as he's not trying to kill me, it is a relief. I can process the god formula equations by then.'

"Is that so, mortal?" Dagon asked, grinding his crocodilian teeth. "It was a garage project? In the middle of nowhere in Teleflat? Is this the time for jokes?"

The two were sparring on the equator of Teleflat, the last planet of the Rusus-Afel star system. The dry earth on which they stood was intermittently cracked and broken. It had seen seventeen long years of summer.

Teleflat was a desolate planet. It had anomalous weather. Now, it was dry. When monsoon showers arrive, they turn into torrential rains. It would pour incessantly for years. Giving rise to an apocalyptic flood.

The torrid oceans would rise, and the seas would fill to the brim. The planet would become a perfect sphere of blue.

Then, after many years, light would break through the clouds one day, and a sun-kissed sky would greet the flooded land. Rusus and Afel would shine bright, bringing insolation for seventeen years. This cycle of flood and desert never ended.

Dagon was livid at Griffin's smugness and arrogance. He was a Prince, and the mortal before him was not being cooperative. Did he think an AI could really make him God? That a mere human could transcend divinity?